Radiation-curable inkjet ink compositions are known in the art. These ink compositions comprise one or more radiation curable components. A special class of radiation curable inkjet ink compositions are phase change radiation curable inkjet ink compositions. These inks are fluid at elevated temperature and become solid—even if not yet cured—at lower temperatures. These inks are typically jetted at elevated temperatures. Phase change inks may become solid or semi-solid upon cooling down on a recording medium, e.g. a sheet of paper. As a result, spread of a droplet of ink on the recording medium may be decreased and color bleeding may be prevented.
An example of a phase change radiation curable inkjet ink is a gelling radiation curable inkjet ink. Gelling radiation curable inkjet ink may be jetted at elevated temperature and may undergo a rapid increase in viscosity when being jetted onto a recording medium. Because of the increase in viscosity, the droplets of ink jetted onto the recording medium may not spread much and hence, color bleeding may be prevented even if the ink composition is not immediately cured after being applied onto the recording medium. The gelling behavior may be provided by adding a suitable gellant to the radiation curable ink composition. Gelling radiation curable inkjet ink compositions typically comprise a gellant. Gellants are also known in the art as gelling agents or thickeners. Examples of gellants used in gelling radiation curable inkjet ink compositions are waxes, such as natural waxes and long chain carboxylic acids, and ketones. A disadvantage of these gellants is that images printed using an ink composition comprising such gellant generally show low or medium gloss level, while high gloss is desired for images printed using a radiation curable ink. There is a need for gelling radiation curable ink compositions that provide high gloss images.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gelling radiation curable ink composition that provides high gloss images.